Latch for automobile doors and the like



1 Sept 14, 1926.

1,599,974 L. J. MORGAN LATCH FOR AUTOMOBILEDOORS AND THE LIKE I Original Filed Feb. 14; 1922 Patented Sept. 14, 1926.

UNITED STAT LEWIS J. MORGAN, OF SYRACUSE, NEVV YORK.

LATCH FOR AUTOMOBILE DOORS AND THE LIKE.

Original application filed February 14,

1922', Serial No. 536,592. Divided and this application filed October 3, 1924. Serial No. 741,471. I

This invention relates to latches for doors, and has for its object a particularly simple and eificient latch for doors as automobile doors by which the handle can be located to conform to the angle of the door and the curve or bulge of the outer surfaces of the door to which the handle is to be applied. The latch mechanism of this application is of the same general type as set forth in my pending application Sr. No. 536,592, filed February 1 1, 1922, of which this application is a division.

The invention consists in the novel fea tures and in the combinations and constructions hereinafter set forth and described.

In describing this invention reference is had to the acompanying drawings in which like characters designate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a horizontal sectional view of this latch, the contiguous portion of the door being also shown.

Figure 2 is an elevation looking to the left in Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is an elevation of the lock, the door being omitted, and the shank or shaft of the handle being shown in section.

Figures 4 and 5 are respectively a side elevation and edge view of the ball and cam.

Figure 6 is a plan view looking downwardly in Fig. 4, the contiguous portion of the casing being also shown.

Figure 7 is a cross sectional view through the cam.

This door latch mechanism comprises generally, a casing formed with a socket, a ball mounted in the casing to have a universal adjusting movement, a cam extending outwardly from the ball and being rigid therewith, a latch member movable in the casing, and having a face coacting with the .cam, the face of the cam which coacts with the latch being convex or spherically curved to conform without unsetting the action of the cam to the adjustment of the ball in the socket, and operating means comprising a handle having a shank detachably connected to the ball to rock the same and hence rock the cam to actuate the latch.

1 designates the casing or box which may be of any suitable form size and construction; it usually consisting of sheet metal walls. The casing is attached to the door 2 or the inner side thereof in any suitable manner. The casing is also formed with a socket here shown as provided by flanges 3 flared outwardly around circumferential openings in the walls of the casing. The ball a is mounted in the socket formed by the flanges 3 to have a universal adjusting movement and also to rock therein.

5 is a cam extending outwardly from the ball, the cam being rigid with the ball and partaking of the adjusting and all movements of the ball. 6 is the latch member as a reclprocably movable bolt, this latch memher having an angularly extending arm 7 with which the cam 5 coacts. The latch has a latching end 8 extending through the edge of the door in position to coact with a keeper plate on the door frame. 9 is the spring tending to thrust the latch member into latching position.

10 is a handle having a suitable shaft or shank 11 extending through the door or the door frame 2 and being detachably connected to .the ball, the shank being here shown as square and extending into an axial square passage 12 formed in the ball.

The doors 2, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, when assembled in an automobile body have different inclines, and also the outer facings have slightly different curvatures, as indicated in full and dotted lines Figs. 1 and 2; and the handle must conform to these curvatures. This is so in car bodies intended to be exact duplicates.

By my locking mechanism the handle can be made to conform to the difierent inclines and curvatures without changing the lock clasing which is permanently attached to the c oor.

In order that the cam 5 may coact efficiently in all adjustments of the handle and the ball 1, the cam 5 which is rigid with the ball l is formed with a convex or substantially spherical face 13 for engaging the face 14 of the arm 7 of the latch, the face 14 being usually flat. The handle 10 and shank 11 thereof may be secured from axial ,displace- 10.0

ment by any well known means or by the means shown in my pending application of which this is a division.

In operation the casing is attached to the door or the inner side of the frame of the door, and the hole for the shank 11 can be located in any desired position or angle and the shaft inserted in the axial hole of the ball 4 irrespective of the incline of the door and the bulge of the outer face of the door, and

the cam 5 which is rigid with the ball 4 will coact with the latch arm 7 efficiently in any angular or rotatable adjustment of the ball 4-.

lVhat I claim is A door latch mechanism, comprising a casing formed with a socket, a latch member movable in the casing, a ball mounted in the socket to have a universal adjusting action, a cam extending outwardly from the ball and being rigid therewith, a latch member having a face coacting with the cam, the

face of the cam coacting with the latch member being convex, whereby during the adjusting movement of the ball in the socket the face of the cam turns on the face of the latch and remains in contact therewith in any adjustment of the ball, and a handle having a shank detachably connected to the ball.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name, at Syracuse, in the county of Onondaga, and State of New York, this 26th day of September, 1924.

- LElVIS J. MORGAN. 

